‘That’s where the risk is’: One in ten infected people caught COVID at work - Sydney Morning Herald

The number of mystery cases in NSW has ballooned to levels not seen since the peak of the state’s March 2020 lockdown with figures showing almost one in ten COVID-19 cases in the latest outbreak have been transmitted at work.

NSW health authorities have confirmed that 123 people have caught the virus through their workplace since the first case reported in June, with about 30 per cent going on to transmit the disease outside their household, including in healthcare and aged care facilities.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian on Tuesday.Credit:Janie Barrett

It comes as the virus spreads out of Greater Sydney, with Orange local government area in the state’s Central West plunged into a week-long lockdown from midnight on Tuesday after a case was identified in a factory worker following a case in a truck driver who travelled to the region.

Exposure sites have also been listed in Goulburn and more than 500 kilometres north of Sydney in Coffs Harbour.

“Even though we’re now down to critical workplaces, that’s where the risk is,” said NSW Premier Gladys Berrejiklian on Tuesday. “And the risk is people coming from a whole range of different suburbs.”

A COVID-19 drive-through testing clinic at the Fairfield Showground. Credit:Rhett Wyman

With 260 cases in NSW now under investigation, a spokesperson for NSW Health said it was “expected there will be additional direct workplace transmission events reported from within the cases in the outbreak to date.”

“Workplaces are a key setting where people are exposed to others outside their households, often for prolonged periods, and can transmit the virus.”

The last time NSW had more than 250 cases under investigation was in March last year.

NSW recorded 78 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, with more than one-third of those in the community at some point during their infectious period.

Despite the number of people infectious in the community remaining stubbornly high, the mass surveillance testing of thousands of workers in the Fairfield area has tracked down positive cases that would not otherwise have been found.

“These cases might set off chains off transmission that we don’t know about,” Ms Berejiklian said. “That’s why we say, no matter what your circumstances are, reduce your mobility. If people stop moving around, the virus stops moving around.”

Wait times for COVID-19 test results have blown out since mandatory testing every three days for workers leaving Fairfield was introduced, with some reports of up to five days to return results as private pathology services struggle to keep up with demand.

NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said some private labs were experiencing problems with scale, describing the uptick in testing rates as a “double-edged sword.”

“So if you are waiting for a test, I know five days is a long time, but we just have to make these sacrifices at this time,” Dr Chant said.

Of Tuesday’s new cases, 21 were in the community for the entirety of their infectious period, with Dr Chant emphasising concern about “emerging risk” in the Canterbury-Bankstown area.

“We are finding unlinked cases in other areas and that means there are chains of transmission we are yet to crack and yet to break,” said Dr Chant. The source of infection for 29 cases was under investigation yesterday.

Deakin University epidemiologist Catherine Bennett said surveillance testing was helping health authorities “get a read on the incidence of infection in certain communities.”

“We know some undetected virus is circulating because asymptomatic workers being screened have come back with positive results.”

There are now 95 COVID-19 cases admitted to hospital, with 27 people in intensive care and 11 requiring ventilation.

One new death of a woman in her 50s was recorded, the mother of removalists who travelled to NSW’s Central West last week.

According to NSW Health’s weekly COVID-19 surveillance report released yesterday, 91 per cent of the first 610 locally acquired cases had not received a single dose of the AstraZeneca or Pfizer vaccine. Only one of the cases recorded in the week ending July 10 had been fully vaccinated.

There were six COVID-19 cases reported in healthcare workers in the week ending July 10, with only one partially vaccinated. Five healthcare workers were unvaccinated.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews defended the government’s decision to tighten restrictions on issuing permits for people travelling into Victoria from a red zone.

He said because people are not “locked into” Sydney, where there is a large outbreak of COVID-19, they must be “locked out” of Victoria.

From 11.59pm on Tuesday, the only people that are eligible to receive a permit who are travelling from a red zone are authorised workers and people who will need to apply for a compassionate exemption.

Of the 78 locally acquired cases reported on Tuesday, the majority are from south-west Sydney. There have been 1418 locally acquired cases reported since June 16, when the first case in the Bondi cluster was reported.

Ms Berejiklian said it was pleasing to see a drop in the numbers on Tuesday.

“The green shoots are there. And I’m convinced that in the next few days we will start seeing hopefully more improvements.”

More than 63,000 tests were conducted in NSW in the 24 hours to 8pm on Monda.

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2021-07-20 19:00:00Z
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